Arrivals and Departures
by Dencin
Summary: A collection of shorts about a divorced father and a divorced mother as they meet at the airport, each sending their child to their exes for the Holidays.
1. Chapter 1

"You sure you have everything?" Kristoff questioned, looking down at his son.

"Yes dad!" Sven replied.

"Toothbrush?"

"Yes."

"Phone?"

"Yes."

"Underwear?"

"Dad!"

"Okay, okay." Kristoff chuckled, ruffling his son's blonde hair with a smile. "You be good for your ma, okay?"

"I will, Dad."

"I'll see you in a few days." Kristoff said, kneeling down on one knee and pulling his son in close for a hug.

Even struggled under the embrace, loudly complaining from embarrassment.

"Daaaaaad!" He groaned.

Reluctantly, Kristoff let him go and stepped back, waving as he son ran forwards to board the plane. He cupped his hands around his mouth and called out as Sven got in the door.

"Call me when you land! I love you."

"Love you too dad!"

Sighing, he felt a familiar heavy weight settle in his chest as he watched his son disappear onto the plane. Despite how much he wanted to keep him all to himself, he knew that he should spend time with his mother during the holidays too. Especially since she only has him over during the holidays.

He stood in the waiting area, for the plane his son just boarded, and stared out the window watching the plane move down the runway. Suddenly a voice broke his silent staring.

"You sending your kid off too?" A female voice questioned.

At first, he felt a little irritated at this stranger coming up to him, especially since his feelings of sending his son off were so raw at the moment. He didn't even look over at her as he barked a reply.

"Yes."

"Me too." She sniffed.

With a sigh, he closed his brown eyes and mentally prepared himself for waterworks from the female. However, as he looked down at her he felt his stomach flip in a way that he hadn't felt since seeing Sven's mother for the first time. The girl was at least a foot shorter than him with red hair and watery-blue eyes. He stared at her, until she looked up and spoke to him again.

"My daughter's name is Elsie. I named her after my sister." She said with a small smile.

In an act of self preservation, he shut down and looked back out the window.

"Why are you telling me this?" He grunted.

Silence.

He stole a look over at the redhead, but found that she was gone. With a sigh, he leaned his forehead against the glass pane and watched the now-empty runway, disappointment settling in his stomach.


	2. Chapter 2

Kristoff waited impatiently for his son's plane to arrive. Anxiety gnawed at his gut the enter time. His son's plane was supposed to arrive twenty-five minutes ago and still hadn't shown up. He nervously paced the floor, debating on whether or not to yell at one of the attendees about the problem, when a voice came out of the intercom.

 _Flight 27-A has been delayed. New arrival time for Flight 27-A is scheduled for 10:30am. Thank you._

Sighing with relief, the male sank down into one of the waiting areas chairs, running his hands through his golden blonde hair a few times before resting his head in them. A hand then rested on his shoulder. He looked up to see the red-head from a week ago. She was balancing two cup precariously in her left hand, while her right was rested on him. She gave a gentle squeeze before sitting down in the chair beside him.

"I never got to introduce myself the other day. I'm Anna Arens." She said with a smile, holding out one of the cups to him.

He narrowed his eyes in suspicion, moving from the cup to her eyes. She merely rolled her eyes and moved the cup closer to him. He quickly took it, afraid she might spill it on him.

"What's this for?" He questioned, removing the lid to see a light brown substance inside.

"Well, I was over there getting some hot chocolate for myself, and I could see you pacing… you looked really upset by the way… so I decided that I'd get one for you too. Then hearing the flight delay, I put two and two together and… sorry… I'm rambling." She said sheepishly.

"Thank you.." He said softly, looking down into his drink.

He hadn't expected such a kind gesture from her, especially for how rudely he treated her the last time they met.

"I'm sorry for the other day. I didn't mean to upset you." He said, turning his head to look over at her.

"The other…. Oh! No! You didn't upset me. I only just realized the time… er at the time, and saw I was late to my sister's flight." She laughed. "She came in after I sent Elsie off to Hans."

Kristoff felt relief at getting that off his chest, and even more to see that it hadn't had an effect on the woman. With a smile he extended his hand to her.

"Anna, was it? I'm Kristoff."

She smiled and his stomach flipped again.

"It's nice to meet you Christopher!"

"It's actually just-" He started, but was cut off.

"Dad!" Sven exclaimed, running up to him.

He stood up quickly and embraced his son as he jumped into his arms. He chuckled and held him tightly.

"Hey, buddy. I missed you." He said, setting him down. "Did you have a good time."

"Yeah, Derek wasn't even there, so it was just me and mom all week!" He exclaimed.

"I bet that was awesome. You'll have to tell me all about it." He said, but then realized that he had completely forgot about the girl, Anna.

He turned to look at her and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Sorry." He apologized.

"No worries." She said before standing up and picking up her drink. "Elsie's flight gets in soon so I need to be going anyways."

He nodded feeling his heart sink at the thought of her leaving. However, he was distracted momentarily by his son showing him a car that he got and when he looked back up, Anna was gone again.


	3. Chapter 3

The next time he found himself at the airport, Kristoff couldn't help but look around for Anna, secretly hoping that she'd be there again. But it had been almost a month since he'd been back there. That was for Thanksgiving. Now, he was sending Sven back for a week to spend Christmas with his mother. Of course he'd be flying back the day after, but he still wished he couldn't have spent Christmas day with him. Sven tugged on his arm, pulling him from his thoughts.

"Dad, I'm hungry. Can we get something to eat before I have to go?" He asked, looking up at him with big, brown eyes.

"Of course. C'mon." He said putting his hand on Sven's shoulder and steering him towards the nearest McDonald's.

When they arrived, Sven made a beeline for the playground, joining various other kids who had persuaded their parents to bring them there. He smiled, and made his way towards the small line at the counter, alternating his gaze between his son and the menu.

"I see you got roped into McDonald's too." Came a familiar voice. "We had a few minutes too, so fancy running into you here."

A smile started to form on his face but he banished it before turning to find the source; Anna. As soon as he saw her, the smile came back and he gave a shrug.

"It's the closest to his flight." He commented.

A million thoughts whizzed through his mind, but only one stuck out. This time he wouldn't let her leave without getting her number or something. She smiled, turning and pointing to a little red-headed girl preventing Sven from going down the slide.

"That's Elsie, blocking your child." She said with an apologetic smile. "I never got his name?"

"Sven." He said, watching the two children argue.

He could see that it was starting to escalate and opened his mouth to call out to his son, but Anna beat him to it.

"Elsie! You have to share! Otherwise you won't get a toy." She warned, her hands on her hips as she gave the girl a glare.

He couldn't help but to chuckle at Anna's appearance. It was strangely adorable, and he found himself smiling at her. She turned back to look at him, her face turning red under his gaze. She self-consciously brushed her hair back behind her ear and looked towards her feet for a moment, before looking back up at him.

"What?" She asked.

Realizing, he'd been staring he cleared his throat awkwardly and moved forwards in line, glad that it was his turn to order. He quickly ordered the usual of what Sven and him got, then turned to her.

"What do you two want?"

"Oh, no. I can't let you do that for me, Christopher." She said shaking her head.

"It's just Kristoff, and yes you can." He said with a smile.

The look of joy that spread on her face made his knees feel weak, and he stood there quietly while she ordered. While he was paying, it suddenly hit him. He was starting for fall for her. The thought scared him and he almost dropped his debit card trying to put it back in his wallet.

"Are you okay?" Anna asked, her hand resting on his forearm.

He could feel the heat in her small hand, and it caused his pulse to quicken.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just hate not getting to spend Christmas with my boy." He said quickly.

"Same here. Hans wants Elsie up until the day after Christmas. I honestly think it's just for a show. He's never cared any other time about her…"

Kristoff raised a brow at her, but remained silent as he picked up their tray of food. Being that he barely knew her, what he wanted to say probably wouldn't be a good choice of words for a second meeting. Also because he didn't want her to get mad at him.

"You must be wondering what I saw in a guy like that." She said, as if reading his mind.

He stopped for a moment, but then shrugged and continued walking.

"It's none of my business." He said, making a beeline for a table closest to the playground.

When they got to the table, they each called out to their kids and unwrapped their food for them. While the kids ate, they started speaking again.

"You said you weren't going to have Christmas to spend with anyone…" Anna began slowly. "If you want, I don't have anyone to spend it with either, we could… I don't know, maybe hang out? It might make it less lonely?"

Her face was red after asking, and she had stared at the table the entire time while speaking. Kristoff couldn't help but to smile as he looked at her.

"Well, I wasn't planning on spending it alone…" He said, thinking of his family that had invited him over.

Anna took it a different way.

"Oh, right. Sorry… I didn't mean to assume… of course you have a girlfriend or something… Oh, boy! This is awkward… not _you're awkward,_ but just because we're… I'm awkward, you're gorgeous. Wait, what?" She stopped talking, staring at her food as if she couldn't believe what had just come out of her mouth.

Kristoff's laughing broke her trance and she looked up at him, her face a bright red.

"No, ahem…" He started, clearing his throat. "I don't have a girlfriend, spouse, whatever… I was going to spend Christmas with my family. You're… more than welcome to join us?"

A dopey grin spread on her face as she looked at him for almost a full minute. He nervously glanced down and looked at his phone.

"Uh, isn't your flight supposed to be leaving soon?" He wondered.

"The flight…" She started, slowly slipping out of her daze, suddenly panicking. "The flight! What time is it? I better go. I have to go. I better go. Uh… Elsie, let's go!"

During that time, she had hastily shoved her food back into the bag and quickly cleaned up Elsie's mess before grabbing her pack and making a beeline to the exit.

"Bye!" She called back, pulling her daughter as they sprinted away. "Oh, no. Oh!"

Kristoff sat there for a moment, dumbfounded at what had just happened. When it finally sank in, he sighed and rubbed his face. He still hadn't gotten her number. Chuckling lightly, he looked over at Sven.

"C'mon, time to catch your flight too."


	4. Chapter 4

Later that night, Kristoff groaned as his phone alerted him of a new message. His Facebook Messenger had gone off. Irritated, started to toss it across the room, but when upon seeing a familiar face in the bubble, he opened it.

Anna: Hey, it's Anna! From the airport?

His brows rose up in disbelief. Was it really her?

Kristoff: Hey, did you make Elsie's flight okay?

A: Yeah, rushed for nothing lol turns out there was a ten minute delay.

K: Listen, I'd love to talk more, but it's 2 am…

K: Speaking of, why are you up so early?

K: No, scratch that. I'll talk to you in the morning.

A: Promise?

K: Yes, now for the love of all that is holy, let me sleep.

A: Goodnight Kristoff. :)

K: Goodnight, Anna.

4:33 AM

A: Hey, what's your favorite animal?

K: Reindeer.

A: Aw! That's awesome! Perfect!

K: GOOD NIGHT

A: Technically it's morning… so wouldn't that be Good morning?

K: … SLEEP.

9:06 AM

K: Okay, I'm up. What do you need to know my favorite animal for?

9:15 AM

K: Anna?

4:13 PM

K: Are you okay? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you last night… I was just really tired.

A: Oh, hey, morning!

A: Or rather.. afternoon?

A: I just woke up. lol

K: Seriously?

A: Yep! Also, no I will not tell you what the reindeer thing is for. You'll see on Christmas.

A: I am still invited… right?

K: Of course.


	5. Chapter 5

Kristoff glanced anxiously down at his phone. She's late. Sighing, he opened his truck door and exited the vehicle. His gaze focused on the row of apartments on the right side of the road. A tall red brick building loomed in front of him; his destination. Pulling his jacket closer, to ward off the cold bite in the air, he made his way up to the front of the door and let himself in.

Thankfully the lobby was warm, and he walked up to the receptionist. He was a thin, older looking, man with a large nose. Despite Kristoff being so tall, the old man seemed to be looking down his nose at him; despite being a couple feet shorter than himself. Clearing his throat, he leaned up against the counter.

"I'm hoping that you can tell me what room Anna Arens is in?" He asked.

The man's eyes narrowed and for a split second Kristoff thought that the man was going to tell him to leave, but, to his surprise, he rattled off the floor and room number, then returned to his previous task. With a nod and a grunted thanks, he made his way towards the elevator and up to the top floor and knocked on the door.

Anna apparently lived in a penthouse suite at the top of the building. When he got to the double glass doors at the end of the hallway, he couldn't help but to gape at them. While enamored by the beauty of the door, he almost missed the red blur that flung itself across the room.

"Anna?" He called through the glass, leaning forwards to peer inside.

There was no answer, and he felt a sense of worry build up in his chest, wondering what could have happened. But, he wasn't left waiting for too long when Anna emerged from the left. He couldn't help but to the think how adorable she looked with her hair stacked on top of her head as she opened the door for him.

"I'm so sorry Kristoff! I overslept!" She apologized, ushering n.

"Are you okay? You don't have to go if you aren't feeling well." Kristoff offered.

"No! I just.. I like to sleep a lot." She laughed, with a wave of her hand.

"So I've noticed…" He mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" She questioned.

"Nothing, uh, so this is a really nice place. It makes me not want to take you to my parent's for Christmas." He said, looking around her house.

"You don't think that they would like me?" She asked quietly, turning her large blue eyes on him.

His stomach flipped at her being upset, and he started to reach out towards her to comfort her but instead moved his hand up to the back of his neck.

"No! Yes! That is… I mean…" He fumbled for the words. "I do want you to go, I'm sure they'd love you. I just mean that.. your place is so nice… and growing up with twelve other siblings-"

He stopped talking as she leaned up and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Thank you." She said as a blush started to form on her face, disappearing into her room to get ready.

* * *

Half an hour later, they were driving across town, heading to his parents.

"Wait wait wait… you mean you have twelve other siblings?!" She exclaimed, leaning forwards in her seat to look over at him.

"Yes, but most are adopted. Like me." He said with a shrug.

"Oh… I'm sorry." She said softly.

"Don't be, they are the best. You'll love them… but uh… they can be a little weird."

"Weird as in…?"

"They will probably think that you're my girlfriend, and if not then they will try to set us up."

"And that's… bad?"

"No, to be honest, I just learned to roll with it."

* * *

When they finally arrived at his parents, Anna was smiling and practically bouncing in her seat. Kristoff couldn't help but to chuckle at her excitement.

"Easy there, feisty pants. Don't jump out of the moving truck." He commented.

"I can't help it! I'm just so excited!" She said, grasping his forearm and shaking him.

As he put the truck in park and turned it off, Anna was suddenly very still.

"What if they don't like me?" She questioned.

"That's impossible." He said getting out of the truck and walking around to open her door. "They are going to love you as much as- er, just trust me okay?"

"Okay"

The sudden bellowing of a female caused them both to look back towards the house.

"KRISTOFF'S HOME!" A large, squat woman exclaimed.

"Hey, Mama," Kristoff called back, extending his hand to help Anna out of the truck.

She took his hand and he felt her grip it tightly as she got out. He gave her a gentle, reassuring squeeze before dropping her hand and striding over to hug the woman.

"Who's this you brought with you?" She asked, peeking around him to see Anna. "Oh! Kristoff is she your girlfriend?!"

"What! No! Mom! She's just a friend." He commented, his face red."She just… we met at the airport and I figured instead of her spending Christmas alone, then she could spend it with us."

"Of course! The more the merrier! Any friend of Kristoff's is a friend of mine. Especially one so cute as her." The woman said with a giggle. "I'm Bulda."

"I'm Anna Arens." She replied, holding out her hand.

Bulda bypassed her outstretched hand and pulled her in for a warm hug. Kristoff smiled at the sight, just as Anna looked up at him. He felt his face redden and he cleared his throat.

"We should get inside… so Anna doesn't get cold." Kristoff suggested, moving towards the door.

Once inside, chaos ensued. There was yelling, children everywhere, decorations overflowing the house, and the smell of Christmas dinner cooking. Kristoff looked over to see Anna's eyes light up at her surroundings. A smile formed on his own face as he took it in as well.

"It's like this for just about every holiday." He informed.

"Really?! This is so… so…-"

"Loud?" He offered.

"AMAZING!" She concluded with a squeal, latching onto his forearm.

He chuckled, heat rising to his face at the feel of her small hands gripping his arm. He kept still hoping that she wouldn't let go, but to his dismay she did anyways. For the next hour he spent introducing her to his family and finally ended with a tour of the home. He could have stayed and talked with her for longer, but his mother had snagged her away to the kitchen and left Kristoff to his own.

He found his way outside, watching a couple of the younger kids playing in the snow as he thought about how quickly the red-head nestled herself into his life. A smile formed on his face, a feeling forming in his chest that he hadn't thought he could feel again.

Dinner was like World War III. If someone wasn't complaining about someone else taking the last roll, it was that someone ate the last of the potatoes. Many times Bulda, and Anna surprisingly, got up to make more until at last the table was clear and many of the family members were in a 'turkey-coma'.

"Sorry that we hadn't got a chance to talk since you got here." Kristoff apologized, pushing around some corn on his plate.

"Are you kidding me? This was great. I haven't had a Christmas like this since…" She paused, chewing on her bottom lip as if she wanted to say more.

Without thinking, he reached over and placed his hand on hers, completely covering it, as he looked at her.

"You can tell me anything, Anna." He said with a smile. "But if you don't want to, I'm not going to make you."

She gave a small smile before replying. "Thanks."

At the same time, they both noticed that neither of them had moved their hands, nor were making an attempt to. He wasn't sure that she had felt the same, but the blush growing on her face told him that she did. He felt his stomach flip at the thought and started to lean forwards, but before he could do anything else Bulda came back to the table and sat down between them, causing them both to jump back and break apart.

"Oh, Kristoff, can you get your old mother something to drink. My feet are killing me." She said, looking over at him.

Part of him wanted to see where this was going with Anna, but he knew that he couldn't refuse his mother. He looked to Anna, but her gaze was on the table in front of her. Feeling deflated, he got up and disappeared into the kitchen. When he came back with a cold glass of tea, Bulda was nowhere in sight. His brown gaze fell on Anna, but she wouldn't meet them, her face more red than it had been when he left.

"Are you okay?" He asked, sitting down beside her.

"What? Oh! Um, yeah. I am." She stammered.

He wasn't convinced, but didn't press the matter. If only they could be alone, and not be interrupted… maybe this would bloom into something more? As he looked at her, he could see himself coming home to her everyday, bubble fights as they washed dishes… Suddenly, Anna was waving in his face.

"Kristoff? Hellooooo! Are you okay?" She questioned, her face a few inches from his, and her blue eyes full of worry and something else… fear?

"What? Yeah. I'm fine… no, I'm great." He said, realizing how close she was.

It wouldn't take much to lean over and kiss her… He saw her run her tongue over her bottom lip and he moved forwards. It was now or never, right? His right hand swooped in to cup her face as their lips met. He felt her stiffen slightly, but before he could pull away, she melted into him and deepened the kiss. When they finally broke apart, a big grin was on left on his face.

This was turning out to be the best Christmas he's had in years.

* * *

Later that night, Kristoff and Anna sat on the sofa in front of his parent's fireplace. She was curled up in his lap and his arm was around her, gently rubbing small circles on her arm.

"Hey, I just realized, you never told me what the reindeer thing was for?" He commented, looking at her.

"Oh! I totally forgot!" She said, rolling off the couch and onto the floor

She darted over to the tree and pulled out a medium box that had gotten wedged behind it and missed. Kristoff sat up and watched her, taking care to not stare at her back end as she crawled under the tree. However, she wasn't under there long and made her way back to him and plopped down on the sofa again.

"Here you go!" She said, watching him open it.

Inside was, what appeared to be, a handmade sweater with the face of a reindeer on the front. He smiled and looked over at her.

"Did you make this?" He asked, pulling it fully out of the box.

As he held it up, he realized that it was going to be too small.

"Yeah... but I guess I got the sizing wrong... like.. I mean I know you were huge, but not like that, but I guess I didn't realize how huge..." She rambled.

"It's perfect." He said, reaching over to brush her cheek.

"Really?"

He answered her with a soft kiss.

"Merry Christmas, Anna."

"Merry Christmas, Kristoff."

* * *

THE END


End file.
